Child care still a rare employee perk; Survey reveals employers reluctant to provide such an expensive benefit
Times Colonist (Victoria)
September 6, 2008
By: Eric Beauchesne

When it comes to what's hot and what's not in job perks, child-care expenses rank at the very bottom, a first-time survey of what Canadian employers are offering their workers reveals.

Only two per cent cover child-care expenses, compared with six in 10 who provide life insurance, the most popular perk, and the close to half who offer car allowances, according to the results of the survey by the Canadian Payroll Association, released yesterday.

While child-care expenses are covered by just two per cent of employers, it's not because the benefit is unpopular but rather that it is a relatively high-cost benefit, explained Steven Van Alstine, the payroll association's vice-president of compliance programs and services.

The perks that are offered are not just what the employees want but what employers can afford, and child-care expenses would be an expensive one, he said in an interview.

"The people that tend to benefit most from child care are the people that can afford it less who tend to be people that aren't in management or executive roles where commonly more expensive benefits are provided to the employee," he said.

"If an employer were going to provide child-care benefits to their employee population it would be something that would have to be provided to all employees and would be very costly for the organization."

… The revelation that so few employers cover child-care expenses, coming on the eve of an expected election call, could rekindle what was a major issue in the last election and one that was seen to most clearly separate the main federal parties.

The winning Conservative minority government ran on its commitment to provide child-care payments directly to parents and tax credits to businesses rather adopting the former Liberal government's plan to provide child-care subsidies through the provincial governments.

While employers have been slow to expand their perks to child-care expenses, Van Alstine said they are providing more perks than in the past….